


A Traditional New Year

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28687653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: When Blair is twelve he and Naomi spend New Year in Scotland
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	A Traditional New Year

**Author's Note:**

> In many ways this is a total infodump

A Traditional New Year

by Bluewolf

By the time he was twelve, Blair's interest in anthropology was well established. His mother had taken him all over the world. He had experienced the celebrations of many cultures.

In the December when Blair was twelve, Naomi went to visit friends who lived in Scotland.

She had known them for many years; indeed, Blair was named for the man Naomi's childhood friend Linda had married. Naomi had spent six months of her pregnancy with Blair and Linda Miller, and she had decided, by the time she had been with them for a few days, that her child would be called either Blair or Linda, depending on sex. And she had remained with them for three months after her son was born.

She visited them at least once a year, staying for anything up to two months each time, but this was the first time she had gone to see them at the time of the Winter Solstice.

Blair had seen his footloose mother outstay her welcome more than once when she visited someone; but no matter how long she stayed with the Millers, she never seemed to outstay her welcome there. Indeed, they often begged her to stay for longer. Blair often thought that if Naomi had a settled home, it was with the Millers; though he never knew why.

And with his interest in anthropology, he was looking forward to seeing how they celebrated Christmas and New Year.

Christmas... barely. The house was decorated (minimally) and they received a few cards, exchanged presents and had a roast goose for dinner. Christmas, it seemed, was no big deal. It was just another day. And when he said so, Blair Miller explained that when his parents were growing up, Christmas in Scotland was an ordinary working day. "It wasn't a holiday here until the late 1950s," he said. "And New Year wasn't a holiday in England. But in the fifties the unions decided that both countries should get both holidays, and when they were negotiating that, the bosses who had businesses in both countries decided that it would make sense rather than have part of the firm on holiday one week, and the other part on holiday a week later; though England still makes more of Christmas and Scotland tends to celebrate more at Hogmanay."

“Hogmanay?” Blair stumbled slightly over the pronunciation. “Does that mean ‘many pigs’?”

Blair Miller chuckled. “Nobody now is absolutely sure where the word comes from, but we think it came from France around 1560 and means ‘gala day’ – but a lot of the traditions go back to the Vikings.”

And he wasn't joking about the celebrations.

The house was thoroughly cleaned on the last day of December. Blair Miller - with Blair's help - also cleaned the car and the garage, explaining to Blair that the way New Year started was the way it would continue... that whatever happened on January 1st would continue to happen throughout the coming year. If it rained on the first, for example, it would be a wet year. All debts should be paid, though with things like electricity bills that wasn’t possible – but money owed to an individual – yes, that should definitely be paid.

Naomi spent much of the day baking while Linda cleaned the house. During the evening Linda made sure there were plenty of glasses, cups and plates lined up on the table as well as shortbread and the cakes Naomi had baked, and her husband set out several bottles - one each of port and brandy, two of sherry and six of whisky - two blends, and four 15-year-old malts - and a big jug of water.

Television that night was a mixture of traditional Scottish song and dance, interspersed with segments of a street party in Edinburgh.

A few minutes before midnight, Blair Miller checked that everyone had a filled glass of whisky. Blair, as a juvenile, got a very little whisky topped up with a lot of water - enough that although he could barely taste it, he would be bringing in the New Year in traditional style.

On television the bells rang; "Happy New Year!" they exclaimed as they clinked their glasses together and drank. They had barely done so when the doorbell rang, and Blair Miller hurried to open the door.

The dark-haired man who entered was carrying a packet of cookies, a miniature bottle of whisky, an individual sachet of something (Blair later learned that it was salt) and a lump of coal, all of which he gave to his host. "Happy New Year!"

He was given a small glass of malt whisky and a cake, and as he downed them Linda murmured to Blair, "He's our first foot. We don't give anyone much to drink - they'll be going round quite a few houses during the night." By then the man had turned to leave. And as he walked out, three more people appeared. They too were carrying gifts - a pack of muffins, a jar of instant coffee and a lump of coal; but they also had a big bottle of whisky, and topped up everyone's glasses from it (as well as a few drops for Blair), then, having consumed a small whisky and a cake each, left again taking the bottle with them.

"They'll go the rounds of their friends, giving them all a dram as they go," Linda once again explained to Blair. Before he could ask for more information, the doorbell rang again.

That set the program for the next hour; and everyone brought something as a gift. One or two just brought a lump of coal, others brought a miniature whisky, or a jar of instant coffee or a packet of tea bags, and/or a packet of cookies - nothing big or very expensive. Some only brought the gift, others, like the second ones, brought a bottle of whisky and gave everyone in the house a drink from it. Blair had wondered about the provision of drinks other than the whisky that seemed to be the preferred drink; until he realized that some of the visitors wanted sherry or brandy instead of whisky.

At 1:00 Naomi packed Blair off to bed. Not that he slept right away - he lay for a while thinking over the traditions he had seen that night, determined to discover more about their origins when the library reopened after the holiday; before he finally fell asleep.

In the morning everyone slept late... Blair woke first, washed and dressed quickly and went into the kitchen. There were some dirty dishes in the sink. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if there was some tradition involved in washing the dishes on January first, then decided that ignorance of that was was an excuse and washed everything. Not completely sure where the bottles of booze went, he left them – what was left of them - on the table. The cakes and cookies had been put into containers and he found space for those in one of the cupboards.

There was still no sign of anyone else moving, so he toasted some bread and had that, spread with butter and marmalade, for breakfast. Then he went back to his room, took an unused notebook from his backpack, and began to write down everything that had happened the previous day... to remind himself of everything that had happened when he made that inevitable visit to the library.


End file.
